Funding and Autonomy
The Homer Township Road District is a separate Governmental Entity. It is managed by the Homer Township Road District Commissioner. It is funded by Local Real Estate Taxes and State Motor Fuel Taxes. Although the Township Supervisor and Board of Trustees “Certify” the Road District Tax Levy, the Amount of Taxes Levied upon the Township is determined solely by the Township Highway Commissioner.
While the Road District’s expenditures from the Real Estate Tax Levy are overseen by the Homer Township Supervisor and Board of Trustees, spending is controlled by the Highway Commissioner. The Homer Township Supervisor acts as the Road District Treasurer and the Township Clerk is also the Road District Clerk. The Road District’s Motor Fuel Taxes are levied by the State of Illinois. The Road District’s portion of Motor Fuel Taxes are then given to the Will County Engineer who controls the spending of those funds in Homer Township.
The Highway Commissioner’s compensation (salary and benefits package) is controlled and set by the Township Board of Trustees and is paid out of Township Funds, not Road District Funds. Salaries for the township officials are set 180 days before the next consolidated election and can not be altered by the Highway Commissioner or the Township Board 605 ILCS 5/6-207. The Highway Commissioner may at his discretion pay the township 50% of his salary from Road District funds per state statue. This is done sometimes to alleviate some of the burden from the township budget.
Intergovernmental Agreement with the Village of Homer Glen
AGREEMENT TERMS
The Homer Township Road District maintains the Roads, Road Signs, Drainage Systems, sidewalks, mowing of parkways on open roads, all plowing and salting, culvert replacement, repaving as well as all daily duties like trash pick up, dead animal removal, pot hole repair, shoulder stone and an abundance of other duties. Since we only have two fulltime staff, the IGA allows us to be able to call on the village to handle projects that may require 5 or 6 people to accomplish. Below you will find the link for the newly signed IGA in its entirety.
2022-ammended-hthd--hg-iga.pdf
AGREEMENT FUNDING
Funding to the Homer Township Road District for this maintenance is provided by the Real Estate Tax that is levied by the Homer Township Highway Commissioner. As per State Statutes, Road and Bridge Taxes levied within a Municipality by the Road District are divided equally at collection (on your real estate tax bill) by the County Collector with half going to the Road District and half going to the Municipality. This enables the village to operate their maintenance facility and the Road District to operate and maintain theirs. Roads maintained in unincorporated areas like Gouger, 163rd, Chi-Bloom, Meader, Farrell, Bruce, ect, ect are utilized by all residents not just unincorporated residents and are very costly to keep maintained. That said, due to the great reduction in the miles of road serviced by the Road District the current Highway Commissioner (Brent Porfilio) has reduced the levy to a more reasonable amount reflecting the current miles of road in December of 2021 and 2022 when the levy is prepared according to state statute. The 50% half share the district collects from incorporated entities goes towards maintaining those arterial roads that they use everyday.